Local high school track teams use War Hawk Classic to tune up for district

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Wylie’s Aubree Hernandez lands in the pit during the high school girls long jump on Friday, March 22, 2013, in the War Hawk Classic track meet at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium.$RETURN$$RETURN$

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Cooper's Kenneth Collins leaps into the pit during the high school boys triple jump on Friday, March 22, 2013, in the War Hawk Classic track meet at McMurry's Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Wylie’s Maddies Walker leaps into the pit during the high school girls long jump on Friday, March 22, 2013, in the War Hawk Classic track meet at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

Thomas Metthe/Reporter-News
Wylie's Clay Johnson lands in the pit during the high school boys triple jump on Friday, March 22, 2013, in the War Hawk Classic track meet at McMurry's Wilford Moore Stadium.

Tommy Metthe/Abilene Reporter-News

With district meets looming, track and field teams from Abilene High, Cooper and Wylie are using this weekend’s War Hawk Classic at McMurry to figure out how their lineups will shape up.

The War Hawk Classic, which features college and high school competition, concludes today at McMurry’s Wilford Moore Stadium and Bobby Carter Throws Complex. Field events will begin at 11 a.m. with running finals starting at 3 p.m.

All six local high school teams have one more meet before district. The Wylie girls and both Cooper squads are entered at Cleburne on Thursday, while the Wylie boys will compete at Lubbock next weekend. The AHS teams will take next week off and compete at Denton Ryan on April 5.

The District 4-3A meet is scheduled for April 8 and 11 at Snyder, while the District 2-5A meet will be held April 11-12 at San Angelo.

While the postseason is drawing near, Wylie boys coach Eddie Lang said the Bulldogs are really just getting started.

“We got the soccer boys out Tuesday and the basketball boys out last week,” Lang said. “We’ve got eight boys out of basketball and soccer, so we’re just now getting started real good. There’s a lot of things we could do.

“We’re ahead of where I thought we’d be. We’ve got a lot of injuries right now we’re dealing with, but I think they’ll be all right by the time district gets here. It’s just one of those things right now you try to improve. The kids are improving every week.”

Cooper boys coach David Waddell is also just now getting his full team into competition.

“It seems like since the beginning of the year that we’ve had a different track team out here every single week because of injuries or regional powerlifting,” he said. “It just seems like something every week.

“It’s been kind of hard to gauge how good our team really is simply because we haven’t had everybody there every track meet. We haven’t fielded an entire team at a track meet yet.”

While AHS boys coach Jeep Shanks has had more athletes available during the season, he’s still looking for the right mix before district.

“There’s not a whole lot more we can do, but there is some juggling this week relay-wise and event-wise trying to find where everybody fits just right,” he said. “After this week, there’s only one more shot to get it right before you go to district.

“We kind of approach every meet the same way. We show up, compete the best we can and let the chips fall where they may.”

And being able to compete is the main concern for Cooper girls coach Kelly Garcia.

“Every meet’s important for us,” she said. “I told my kids there’s only three teams at this meet, but we need to get out there and compete. We’re just trying to figure out what we’re going to do, kind of a tuneup for these last couple of meets, especially since we can’t find a meet the week before district.”

Both Wylie girls coach Kerry Hibbitts and Abilene High girls coach Rosemary Watlington said their teams have a number of questions to answer before district.

“That’s what this is all about,” Hibbitts said. “You can pretty much have five in each event here. We get to see some people in different things we haven’t really gotten to look at yet and also we get to experiment some. I’ve got people running different relays and events they haven’t run so far this year.

“We’re still pretty unsettled on relays as well as who’s going to be running in several events at district. This week, hopefully, will answer some of those questions and we’ll have it all figured out when we get through at Cleburne.”

Watlington said her district lineup could differ greatly from what the Lady Eagles have used so far this season.

“I’m still trying to piece it together,” she said. “That’s the hard part. We’re so young and just trying to stay healthy. Everyone’s doing different things, so they’re not quite comfortable yet. It’s going to come down to that week of district before they even find out who’s going to be doing what.”

With the War Hawk Classic holding competition over two days, both Cooper and AHS get a look at a schedule similar to what they’ll face at district.

“It gives the kids an opportunity to see what it’s like to have to get mentally prepared two days in a row instead of one and give a solid effort two days in a row,” Shanks said.

Garcia said holding prelims in all races shorter that 800 meters is a good test for the athletes.

“I like that we decided to go ahead and do a two-day meet and do prelims, even though it’s not necessary with the relays,” she said. “It’s good for the kids to go back-to-back. We did that in Brownwood. They need to get used to what it feels like to go two days in a row,”

Said Watlington: “That’s the reason for this meet and we really appreciate (McMurry track coach Barbara Crousen) doing this for us. It’s big not having to spend a lot of money on going out of town and things like that.”